New Species of Chameleon Got Identified

6/27/2017 12:00:00 AM

Three new species of Chameleon got discovered in Central Africa. Dr. Eli Greenbaum led a team of herpetologists. She is the associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. They have discovered these new species of chameleons.

Earlier, this reptile trio was known to be single specie as the Ituri Chameleon (Kinyongia adolfifriderici). It was found in the different parts of the Albertine Rift. Two new species were named according to the mountain ranges where they were found. The first one is Rugege highlands forest chameleon (Kinyongia rugegensis) and the other one is Itombwe Forest Chameleon (Kinyongia itombwensis).

The last new specie is known as Tolley’s Forest Chameleon (Kinyongia tolleyae). It is named after Krystal Tolley who is the principal scientist at the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. Authors described these three new chameleon species after studying geographical, morphological and DNA data.